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05/09/2002

ICC Issues Report on Mistawasis Inquiry

Ottawa (May 9, 2002) - The Indian Claims Commission (ICC) today issued its report on a claim by the Mistawasis First Nation that certain portions of land surrendered by the First Nation after it had signed Treaty 6 in 1876 were null and void on various grounds.

The report, by Chief Commissioner Phil Fontaine and Commissioner Roger Augustine, is based on historical reports and documents submitted to the Commission by the two parties involved. Rejected portions of the claim - which focussed on three land surrenders by the First Nation in 1911, 1917 and 1919 - were submitted to the Commission in 1998.

The ancestors of the present-day Mistawasis First Nation were Cree who had migrated to what is now Saskatchewan from the woodlands of eastern Manitoba and the Great Lakes area of Ontario in the 17th and 18th centuries. Following years of seeing their traditional lands encroached upon by white settlers and others, the First Nation was eventually given 49,280 acres located at Snake Plains, 20 miles northwest of Fort Carlton, designated as Mistawasis Indian Reserve 103. The band' s claim was that the Crown had breached its fiduciary obligations in obtaining the three surrenders and that the surrenders had been achieved as a result of undue influence and unconscionable circumstances in violation of the Indian Act.

The inquiry was twice placed in abeyance at the request of the First Nation, pending the outcome of negotiations on the accepted portions of the claim. In the spring of 2001, the Commission was informed that the Mistawasis First Nation had ratified a Surrender Settlement Agreement with the government of Canada.

:As a result of this process," the report concludes, "the Commission suspended its inquiry into the claim and was not required to make any findings." It goes on to congratulate the parties on having reached their settlement agreement.

The ICC was established in 1991. Its mandate is: to inquire, at the request of a First Nation, into specific claims that have been rejected by the federal government or where the First Nation disputes the compensation criteria being considered in negotiations; and to provide mediation services on consent of the parties at any stage of the claims process.

To download the report PDF